The End Of Live Entertainment???

[Bigdog]

I never thought I would be saying this because I never would have believed it myself..

If you look at the trends of modernization in especially the electronics field and other solid long established industries...like Kodac...they stopped making regular film...

Cameras and the photographic business has taken a sharp turn from what it was to what is is becoming...

Hard wired land line phones to hands free talking...

Desktops to mini laptops and ipads...

Shopping in stores verses internet shop from home..

Going to the movies verses having one delivered to your door. Many local theaters no longer exist.

Old fashioned giant TV boxes verses HDTV/LCD 1 inch thick slim 72 inch wide formats...


Could we be seeing the end of all forms of local live entertainment?

Maybe it's the coming trend. Not that karaoke or DJs or bands will totally disappear because they and are no longer popular...each still is for the most part...but many people no longer are willing to pay a $5 cover charge to see a band.

With the advancements in internet Jukeboxes where anything can be instantly ordered up..pay per view..cable...dishes.... phone line TV...Jukeboxes only used to have music available that the vender put in them on a vinyl record. You were limited to at most 200 songs.. Now millions of selections are just a button away...

I remember when all the TV stations shut down broadcasting every night for several hours...The test pattern stayed on...or you had just static snow..

Maybe the many options of high quality home entertainment will be the death of live entertainment options.

Many of my steady regular singers are simply fading away and new singers are not replacing them like they used to...people of all ages still come...just not in the numbers big enough to sustain steady work...for much longer.

It could be all economy based reductions....but I don't think so. The younger kids my be sitting at the bar but they are constantly doing something with their hand held devices...The bar isn't holding 100% of their attention. The same happens when they are at karaoke or a DJ or a band...the numbers of people running outside to answer a phone call or text is contantly going up.

I have people coming in with laptops and ipads and watching their screen during the show....doing their own thing while you do yours...

Could the way we socialize...with Facebook and others...change they way we interact? Texting verses an actual phone conversation..

Less and less face to face contact is becoming the norm...on line dating...has risen in popularity...home entertainment is now king...

Just as only sports bars had big screen TVs 20 years ago...now everyone has one...and people that could afford to be KJs and DJs and purchase high quality band instruments..we are being replaced with high quality home units...Rock band video games...downloadable karaoke music...sing karaoke songs on your TV through cable now..99 cent music...with everyone having access....

We ain't in Kansas anymore Toto...Maybe we are going they way of the dinosaur....

If live entertainment is offered but the biggest attention getter is still in the palm of your hand....how can we compete? What could you possibly do to break their attention span to be on what you have to offer...

Don't forget...karaoke and DJs are still free to attend..bands could suffer a faster death because they still use a cover charge..

The economy sucks...but could this be the straw that breaks live entertainments back?

Could it change the way people entertain themselves by themselves or with others?

The answer could just be in the palm of everyones hand...mini all inclusive entertainment centers you can walk around with.....

Access to every song ever recorded...every movie ever made..ever book ever printed....every televised event ever archived...face to face phone meetings and phone conversations anywhere around the world...so what are they going to miss? What can't they be entertained with?

Fossil hunters will find our bones and equipment....like it was an amazing find...of they way things used to be with our ancestors...

I haven't heard of many new local KJs....99% of my competition are the ones that have been around.....but I have heard of many newer DJs...could be the access to all the music on the net....but why do you need a DJ with internet jukeboxes....

Are home karaoke parties on the rise...with singing to the cable TV sing along music?

No DUIs...just sleep it off here and party all night...We can do it all and never leave the house....how many friends does it take to have a fun party?

How many people do you really hang with and talk to when you go out? You and a few friends...not every person there...

The time is coming when live entertainment will not pay for itself and I think it may happen shortly....with the economy's help. Gasoline prices going over $5 will change the face of live entertainment and how we entertain ourselves...modern hand held advancements will rule.

What else could you possibly want in the palm of your hand??? I can only think of one thing...live sex....let's see...live sex or karaoke...live sex or a DJ...live sex or a band...when that happens....we will all be unemployed..

Techie entertainment generation...is upon us.

We can not compete....we are like cavemen...slowly fading out of existance..

High tech is here....it's more entertaining...more accessable instantly...in the palm of your hand...

Karaoke music producers will fade away....it could have been a fad after all...that has run it's course...karaoke is still popular from the "I like being a star" for a moment aspect...it's no longer king....if you can't hold it and do it in your hand...it's not hip...it's not drawing like it once did....

I'm not ready to give up yet....but I am no longer in control of what happens...to me and my karaoke business.

Outside forces and factors will decide when my "death" finally comes..there are many things working against me...more pressing matters...more pressing forms of entertaining ones self....high tech influences are taking over....

Karaoke & DJs even though we came into the computer age to keep up...has passed us by.....cavemen playing live music...to ourselves...for ourselves...with a rock...a tree stump and beating them with sticks....trying to drown out the noise interference from a hand held device...

Blame Steve Jobs...blame the economy...blame the internet....our death is creeping up behind us...

[Bigdog]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eight-pro ... t-buy.html

Eight Products the Facebook Generation Will Not Buy


I have noticed that bars that cater to younger smokers seem to be doing a little better. They are not worried about spending their last dime. Credit cards will bail them out.

Instant gratification...buy it now and somehow pay for it later.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to make changes to get younger people involved in going to and singing karaoke?

Playing more dance music is an unacceptable answer/option.

Everything I read on Face Book is about people complaining and fighting or losing or finding a new boyfriend...

facebook seems to be an excellent platform for bytching and not a whole lot more.. Seems pretty shallow to me...Ohh and posting lots of pictures of drunk people. Tongues out and lips pouted..look at my new tat or hole...jewlery..

And complaining about not having and making enough money...while smoking 3 packs a day...and drinking every night.

[wiseguy]

The old adage "if you can't beat them join them" applies here. You can't ignore the evolving technology. It's no longer just the kids who are posting on Facebook and sending text messages instead of making phone calls.

It's now all about social networking. Banners and signs are no longer good enough for getting people to your shows. You need that Facebook page and a large friend list of local people so you can post your show schedule.

You need a Twitter account with a lot of followers from your area so you can send out daily reminders. You need to get all the cellphone numbers from the people who come to your shows and send them text messages throughout the week reminding them of your shows.

Live entertainment will never go away but people are becoming more selective on where they go to get it. If you can create a social buzz about your shows they will become THE place to be.

Be a dinosaur... become extinct.

[CORVETTE]

I agree with Wiseguys comment in that you have to move with the times. I run my karaoke and have done for over 15 years very similar to Bigdogs in that I dont play any filler music when i am doing a karaoke. I attract singers because of this. I had no interest really in facebook until one of my singers started a karaoke group promoting my karaoke. It has and is a very good tool of advertising my bookings along with adding them to the pubs own karaoke page. Yes it would be nice if every venue you go to has their own singers but its just not the case these days so you just have to make sure you are better than the competition. Yes there might not be too many youngsters coming along these days so youve got to make sure the older generation support you.

[Bigdog]

I am guilty of not having a web site or facebook account.

A web site looks totally rediculous unless it is very up to date as far as your information about when & where. I have seen many neglected web sites that did nothing good for the business. Out of date information looks horrible to me. Like you could care less about it. There is a good deal of time involved in keeping things current. I don't text and all that. My cell phone is with me for emergencies and that's about it. Call the house and leave a message...

Facebook accounts look just as stupid.

MONDAY: I'm off.

TUESDAY: Hi I'm here tonight..

WEDNESDAY: $2 Drafts at...Hooies...

THURSDAY: FOOTBALL & me after...

FRIDAY:.Bill's Birthday...

SATURDAY: I bought a cow and helped the neighbor build a barn...

KILL ME NOW....

Then repeat the same thing next week... KILL ME AGAIN..

OK now look at my pictures of drunk people making stupid faces...sticking their tongues out and pouting their lips... and spilling beer...and acting like hookers...muscle heads...

And here is a picture of Mary holding a microphone & singing...looks like a lotta fun..

Is this really all it takes? Looks more childish than professional...sounds like a 12 year old on roids...

How many older singers are into face space and my book?

The loyalty of my singers is based on my personal contact at the shows...the quality of my equipment...my fairness...the quality of the venues.. I just had a singer tell me this last night...

The loyalty of my singers is being dictated by the crap economy that is not in a recovery...The entertainment dollars are drying up.

Face book won't fix the economy.

Maybe a frequency jammer to kill all the cell phones during the show..

The people with all the cell bells and whistles can't aford to come out because their plan is $300 a month and cigarettes are $200..

I'll be out but drinking free water... I'm broke... my Wendys job sucks... can someone pick me up...I don't drive...

[wiseguy]

You don't need a "website" and you never need to post pictures of drunk people or anyone else. You don't need to spend four hours every day on the computer promoting yourself.

You do need to keep up with the latest trends in advertising. If you don't you will surely be left behind. You don't have to like the social medias but you had better learn to use them.

I think we all would agree that people have less money to spend on entertainment. This means that they must be more selective. They will want to go where everyone else goes. What good is having the highest quality equipment and most professionally run show if nobody is there?

Get a Facebook account and start adding everyone you know as a friend. Ask your singers how they are listed so you can find them. Then once a day take ten minutes to make a post that contains your weekly schedule with the address of each bar and show times. All the people on your friend list will be able to see this when they log on.

Get a Twitter account and then get everyone you know to follow you. On the day of a show post a tweet of where you will be. All those following you will be able to view that tweet on their computer, phone, or other mobile device.

Text everyone you know on the day of a show because everyone reads their text messages. Send to multiple recipients at once like an email newsletter.

Those mobile devices that you see people use during your shows, and that you despise so much, could be your salvation.

[Bigdog]

The only salvation will be a real economic recovery in our grandkids lifetime....highly doubtful....

It's not like I change jobs every week.

I hand out new calenders every month and everyone says...I know your schedule I don't need a calender.


They need more spending money...not the same old tweet...unless it contains money..

[wiseguy]

Not everybody is broke. You just need to attract the people who have money to your shows. Apparently that is something that you are failing to do. You either find a way to rise above the current economic situation or continue to be a victim of it.

[Bigdog]

This is a wide spread problem at least around my area.

A karaoke singer told me Wednesday last week he went to 2 different karaoke bars and neither one had karaoke going on that night because nobody was there.

Last Friday a KJ I know had nobody show up.

Since I stopped doing smoking shows, the smokers have gone to smoking karaoke. Tweeting all day won't get smokers away from their chain smoking habit.

It's not like they all forgot my schedule since my oldest jobs right now are 5 years old. And I know I've put fresh calenders in all of their hands sometime within the last 5 years...and probably as little as a few months ago.

If karaoke singers are friends with other singers...everyone knows where the shows are. Most of the smokers are younger. They go where the younger smokers go. Their bartender friends smoke. And maybe hand out free drinks.

Quality of the sound and the shows is becoming less of a factor for many smokers. It's the reason I stopped doing smoking venues after they passed the law. The hard core smokers would ask one question whenever they entered a bar they were not sure of...can I smoke in here? If the answer was no they turned and ran to the next bar. Some of the bars get a pass on smoking based on food sales.

They want sing and smoke at the same time. They want to Tweet and smoke at the same time. Smokers are addicts. Going outside interferes with their addiction. It slows them down. It's inconvenient. It always dictates where they play...unless there is a stronger force involved like boyfriends or girlfriends. They may come out every once in a while for a change of pace but not regularly.

If even when the bars are busy...the bottom line is down because everyone spent less money....that to me signifies they are broker than they used to be. Meaning less entertainment dollars to spend. I see many people grabbing 6 packs...to drink at home. Smoke and drink at home. Making karaoke a luxury event..

[Bigdog]

Why go to bars when I can stay home and be a zoo keeper...Look at all the cute baby animals...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoo-World/162104552518

Death of real live entertainment...

SPENDING their money on imaginary zoo food for imaginary animals....

I can escape from the real world here...it's safe and cuddly..so nice and warm..and I can smoke.

Kill yourself the end is near..

[Bigdog]

Average IM...

I'm sad today..


NEXT: Bought a hot dog...


NEXT: Got $5 worth of gas to last for the next seven weeks..

NEXT: Wrecked my car..

NEXT: raining today..

NEXT: really depressed...my job sucks..

NEXT: Can anyone give me a ride...

NEXT: on my way to hell (work) LOL

NEXT: staying home tonight to watch a movie...(Means they are broke in code)

NEXT: that Snooky...

NEXT:

NEXT: ???? Credit card declined... I just sent them $5...

NEXT: karaoke tonight at SMOKERS the worst show in town...who's in?

[Bigdog]

The only way KJs will be able to do karaoke is to buy the singers drinks and gasoline for every show....

Or pay their hand held device bill...

[Bigdog]

Will I make it to 3000 posts before the death of karaoke...

who is taking bets??

[Bigdog]

I really wish I was wrong about this....


http://www.business2community.com/trend ... rld-039438

I was totally correct and it's only going to get worse. This topped TV, Radio, PCs...everything...it's the king...


The end is near...for live entertainment..

[Bigdog]

Just saw a commercial the other day for a cell phone that can talk to you and also does scheduling automatically and plays music when asked.

So now people can have an imaginary friend to talk to when they are home lonely & broke...

live entertainment will be a luxury item...seldom seen and seldom attended